Joey Graham topped Toronto with 15 points while Marion added 10 in his Toronto debut. Jose Calderon finished with 13 points and Andrea Bargnani added 11 for the Raptors (21-35).

The Raptors kept pace with the Eastern Conference-leading Cavs (41-11) for much of the first half, before Cleveland broke the game open in the third quarter. James, relatively quiet to that point, poured in 10 points in the quarter and put the Cavs ahead by 17 points on two free throws near the end of the frame. Cleveland led 71-56 with a quarter left to play.

A three-pointer by Anthony Parker early in the fourth pulled Toronto within 11, but that was as close as the Raptors would come, much to the dismay of the capacity crowd of 19,800 at the Air Canada Centre.

The game got heated in the final few minutes as Raptors head coach Jay Triano was ejected with five minutes left. Triano was arguing that Parker was fouled by James while shooting a jump shot. Triano, who had to be restrained by assistant coach Mike Evans, received a pair of technicals leading to an automatic ejection.

The game was already out of reach at that point. The Cavs led by as much as 21 points in the dying minutes and cruised to an easy win, sending the Raptors to their first loss in three outings.

The Cavs shot 58 per cent on the night and held Toronto to 37 per cent. Cleveland out-rebounded the Raptors 48-32.

With their chances of a post-season appearance dwindling, the Raptors acquired Marion and Marcus Banks in Friday's trade that sent Jermaine O'Neal and Jamario Moon to Miami. Marion had the unenviable task of guarding James for most of the night, but fared well in his first appearance and played a game-high 40 minutes. He got the crowd going early when he threw an alley-oop to Parker.

Triano said he planned to keep it simple with Marion last night.

"We haven't had a lot of time, we've had shootaround and one practice to try to get stuff in, so we basically said 'rebound, get down the floor, run . . . just keep moving.' And that's what he does best anyways,'' Triano said before the game. "We tried to teach him a small number of plays so when we do have to run a play, he's in the right place and doesn't get in anybody's way.''

Cleveland's Ben Wallace missed the game after receiving 14 stitches to close a cut in his forearm. Wallace hurt his arm crashing through a car window while playing street football during the all-star break.

UPDATE

Bosh Misses Another game

TORONTO -- Raptors all-star forward Chris Bosh was sidelined for his fifth consecutive game with a sprained right knee last night as Toronto hosted the Cleveland Cavaliers. The decision to sit Bosh was made at yesterday morning's shootaround. Bosh left Toronto's Feb. 4 game against the Los Angeles Lakers with a knee injury. He skipped last weekend's NBA all-star game in Phoenix to rest his knee. Bosh is averaging 22.7 points and 9.5 rebounds a game this season.